Faculty - Josepha A. Cheong, M.D.
Additional Information
Training
Clinical Interests
Academic Interests
Leadership
Publications
 |
Josepha A. Cheong, M.D.
Associate Professor |
Dr. Cheong, Board-certified in both General Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry, has been with the University of Florida Department of Psychiatry since 1994. She is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is also Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry, Medical Director of the Inpatient Geriatric Psychiatry Unit at Shands Hospital, and Staff Psychiatrist at the Memory Disorder Clinic, also at Shands Hospital. Dr. Cheong specializes in Geriatric Psychiatry, neuropsychopharmacology, ECT, and acute inpatient psychiatry. Dr. Cheong is also very involved with medical student education and is Chief of the Division of Medical Student Education for Department of Psychiatry. She served as Chair of the University of Florida College of Medicine Selections Committee from July 1998 through June 2001.
Dr. Cheong’s primary area of clinical interest is geriatric psychiatry, in particular, affective disorders and neurocognitive impairment. Within the scope of this topic, her interests are in behavioral management of agitation, memory disorders and co-morbid psychiatric illness, caregiver burden, long-term institutional care, ethnic minority elderly and mental illness, neuropharmacology, and education. Within general psychiatry, acute stabilization and crisis management, emergency psychopharmacology, and mental illness in the medically ill patient are other interests and areas of clinical and educational expertise for Dr. Cheong.
Research and Scholarly Interests:
In addition to the clinical areas of interest, Dr. Cheong is involved in several projects in administrative psychiatry and educational psychiatry. Toward this end, she is involved with several national organizations in these activities: American Psychiatric Association, Association for Academic Psychiatry, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Association for American Medical Colleges, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Reynolds Foundation. Dr. Cheong has served and continues to serve in senior leadership positions on various committees and workgroups for these organizations
Educational Interests and Accomplishments:
Education has been a key part of Dr. Cheong’s academic career. She has spent the majority of the past 7 years of her career developing a teaching portfolio that includes all 4 years of medical student education, inpatient and outpatient resident supervision, general and fellowship resident education in psychiatry and neurology, psychiatry education in the primary care specialties, and continuing medical education.
Within education, Dr. Cheong has served on various committees for curriculum and program development at a local, state and national organization. As a presenter and educator, Dr. Cheong is nationally recognized and sought-after in clinical topics in geriatric psychiatry as well as in the area of “how-to-teach”. At the UF College of Medicine, Dr. Cheong has served on 2 of the key education committees - the Curriculum Committee and the Medical Selections Committee (MSC). From 1998 – 2001, she served as Chair of MSC; during this time, she was responsible for developing and implementing new policies and procedures for this office. In the department, Dr. Cheong served as the Associate Program Director and Director for Resident Awards and Development. During this term, 16 national awards and fellowships were garnered by our resident group.
In 1996 and 1999, Dr. Cheong was recognized as the UF College of Medicine Clinical Science Teacher of the Year. In 2001, she received the College of Medicine’s most prestigious award, the Hippocratic Oath Award. She has been selected by the College as the 2002 UF College of Medicine Clinical Science Teacher of the Year – this is only the 3rd time that this award has been received by a Department of Psychiatry faculty member. Most recently, she has been appointed as an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
As stated above, Dr. Cheong has served and continues to serve in leadership roles on medical student and resident education committees at the institutional, state, and national level. As a faculty at UF College of Medicine, she advises the majority of senior medical students in their interviews and residency selection. On a national basis, Dr. Cheong mentors several residents, fellows, and junior faculty at various programs as they pursue careers in geriatric psychiatry and/or general education. Within the UF Department of Psychiatry, she served as the Interim Residency Program Director during a period of reorganization. During this time, Dr. Cheong organized and developed a core system of seminars and mentorship for each of the resident curriculum years. This organization was part of the process of preparing for the programs 5 year accreditation review. Previous to this term, she served as the Associate Program Director for the previous RRC Accreditation as well as the Resident Recruitment Director for 5 of the departments successful MATCHs. The success of these recruits is evidenced in the number of award fellowships attained and the number of residents that continue in teaching and academic careers.
Featured Columnist (3-4x/year) – American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Newsletter
Tueth MJ, Cheong JA : Successful treatment with pimozide of Capgras syndrome in an elderly male. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol , Oct-Dec;5(4):217-9 , 1992.
Tueth MJ, Cheong JA: Clinical uses of pimozide. South Med J, Mar;86(3):344-9, 1993.
Tueth MJ, Cheong JA: Delirium: diagnosis and treatment in the older patient. Geriatrics, Mar;48(3):75-80, 1993.
Cheong JA, Heilman KM, Doty L: A conversation with my mother. JAMA, Jan 11;273(2):113-4, 1995.
Tueth MJ, Cheong JA, Samander J: The Charles Bonnet syndrome: a type of organic visual hallucinosis. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, Jan;8(1):1-3, 1995.
Ward HE, Cheong JA. Recognizing and treating depression. Emergency Medicine 51:46-57, 2000.
Mills TL, Alea NL, Cheong JA: Differences in the indicators of depressive symptoms among a community sample of African-American and Caucasian older adults. Community Ment Health J, Aug;40(4):309-31, 2004.